The favourite: Manush will have high hopes of walking away with the crown. | Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO: BISWARANJAN ROUT Defending national champion Manush Shah will return to his hometown as a favourite to lift an international title. But beyond the spotlight on Manush and Harmeet Desai, the next five days at the SAMA Indoor … Read more
Former World champion and current National champion Ojas Deotale scored 714 points to take the top spot in the compound men’s qualification round at the first selection trials on the Sports Authority of India (SAI) campus here on Tuesday. Uday Kamboj (712) finished second, while Kushal Dalal and Manav Jadhav (710 apiece) were tied for … Read more
Yashdeep Bhoge (690) claimed the number one position in the recurve men’s section, while Simranjeet Kaur, Kriti Sharma and Deepika Kumari (659) were tied for the top spot in the women’s section after the qualification round of the first archery selection trials at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) ground here on Monday. Olympians Atanu … Read more
Aadya won the girls’ under-11 crown. Divyanshi Bhowmick — regarded as one of India’s most promising young paddlers — fell short of top honours, going down fighting to second seed Miku Matsushima of Japan in the under-19 girls’ final of the WTT Youth Contender here on Monday. In a gruelling contest that capped a punishing … Read more
Most of the top Indian pugilists will be in action when the Elite men’s and women’s national boxing championships, delayed by a few days due to adverse pollution conditions, finally kicks off at the Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida from Saturday. Among those will be recently-crowned World Champions Meenakshi and Jaismine Lamboria, two-time former world … Read more
After the chaos and mismanagement of the opening day, things appeared to get slightly better on Day Two of the Elite men’s and women’s National boxing championships even though the inability to complete the day’s proceedings meant the organisers had to scramble to bring things back on track on Tuesday. While the bouts were supposed … Read more
Commendable show: Vaishnavi scored 15 points for the defending champion. | Photo Credit: RAGU R Indian Railways women outclassed Karnataka 95-65 to post their second win in the 75th senior National basketball championship at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Monday. The only time the contest was evenly matched was in the opening five minutes … Read more
Indian shuttlers, including the experienced duo of Lakshya Sen and P.V. Sindhu, will eye a strong start to the year when they take on the world’s best at the season-opening $1,450,000 Malaysia Open Super 1000 tournament With renewed vigour, Indian shuttlers, including the experienced duo of Lakshya Sen and P.V. Sindhu, will eye a strong … Read more
Tamil Nadu’s Anantharaj in action against Rajasthan. | Photo Credit: R. RAGU Tamil Nadu men kick-started their title defence campaign on a strong note, breezing past Rajasthan 101-68 on the opening day of the 75th Senior National basketball championships at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Sunday. The home team bolted out of the gate early in … Read more
Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari will be among a host of top names set to take part in the trials. | Photo Credit: File photo: R. RAGU Elite archers, including B. Dhiraj, Atanu Das, Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur, V. Jyothi Surekha and Abhishek Verma, will be seen in action at the year’s first … Read more
Antim Panghal was picked up for ₹52 lakh by UP Dominators. | Photo Credit: File photo A total of 63 wrestlers were snapped up as the six franchises spent in excess of ₹11 crore at the auction for the fifth season of the Pro Wrestling League, which concluded here late on Saturday night. Japanese great … Read more
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (January 4, 2025) asserted that India is preparing with full strength to host the 2036 Olympic Games, and declared his government was committed to providing “more and more players greater opportunities to compete” by hosting mega sporting events in the country. Addressing the inaugural function of the 72nd Senior … Read more
Javelin thrower and Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra, along with Sachin Yadav. File. | Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar Javelin throwers Neeraj Chopra and Sachin Yadav are the only Indian athletes to figure in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) of World Athletics’ anti-doping watchdog Athletics Integrity Unit’s (AIU) for the first quarter of this year. While … Read more
Gukesh. | Photo Credit: FIDE World champion D. Gukesh has pulled out of the Tata Steel Chess India tournament, to be held in Kolkata from January 7 to 11, due to personal reasons. “Due to personal reasons, D. Gukesh will be unable to participate in Tata Steel Chess India this year,” the organisers of the … Read more
Divyanshi will compete in the U-17 and U-19 categories this year, while Syndrela will aim to defend her U-19 girls’ singles title. File. | Photo Credit: R. Ravindran Around 334 players from 10 countries will vie for honours at the WTT Youth Contender and the WTT Feeder Series, scheduled to begin at the Sama Indoor … Read more
Dope-tainted wrestler Reetika Hooda was dropped, compound archers like Parneet Kaur and Abhishek Verma were promoted to the core group while decathlete Tejaswin Shanker found a place in the developmental list of the updated directory of athletes supported by the Sports Ministry’s flagship Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). The list was drastically pruned from 179 … Read more
Thipsay guided SG Pipers to glory in the third season of the GCL. | Photo Credit: GCL Pravin Thipsay became a Grandmaster (GM) at a time when getting the title was a distant dream for even the most talented of Indian chess players. He became India’s third GM in 1997, after Viswanathan Anand and Dibyendu … Read more
Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik. File | Photo Credit: Reuters Russian chess great Vladimir Kramnik has sued world chess governing body FIDE for defamation in a Swiss civil court after he became the subject of an inquiry for allegedly harassing players with “unsubstantiated” cheating claims following the death of American Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky. Kramnik posted on ‘X’ … Read more
Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen. File. | Photo Credit: Reuters World No.1 Magnus Carlsen showed his endgame genius yet again to add a record-extending ninth world Blitz title to the Rapid gold medal he won two days back, but Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi suffered a massive meltdown in the semifinal to settle for a bronze in … Read more
The nationwide selection trials for the PETRONAS TVS India One Make Championship (OMC) 2026 will be conducted between January 17 and February 7, 2026, across Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi and Kolkata, followed by final selections at the Madras International Circuit (MIC), Chennai. There are three categories: Women’s (under-40), Rookie (age 15-21) and TVS Apache RR310 (participant … Read more
An Abhinav Bindra-led Task Force set up by the Sports Ministry has pointed out “systemic deficits” in India’s sports administration, including “inadequate and ill-equipped” athletes for governance roles, and recommended the setting up of an autonomous statutory body to train a specialised cadre that would also feature IAS officers. The 170-page report of the Task … Read more
Magnus Carlsen finished on 9/13, suffering a second setback on the day against Caruana after overlooking a rook. File | Photo Credit: Reuters Top Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi demonstrated strong endgame technique and quick calculation to stun Magnus Carlsen and emerge joint leader, with the Norwegian world No.1 slamming the table in frustration, on day … Read more
Rithvik Sanjeevi. Photo: Special Arrangement Twenty-two-year-old Rithvik Sanjeevi of Tamil Nadu took a major step in his budding badminton career by clinching his first men’s singles title at the Senior National championships in Vijayawada on Sunday (December 28, 2025). “I’m thrilled. My family, coaches at Hatsun Badminton Centre, Sivakasi, and trainers are all happy. This … Read more
Rithvik Sanjeevi. | Photo Credit: K.V.S .GIRI Twenty-two-year-old Rithvik Sanjeevi of Tamil Nadu took a major step in his budding badminton career by clinching his first men’s singles title at the Senior National championships in Vijayawada on Sunday. “I’m thrilled. My family, coaches and trainers at the Hatsun Badminton Centre, Sivakasi, are all happy. This … Read more
“Congratulations to Koneru Humpy, who finished strongly at the 2025 FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship in Doha, securing the Bronze medal in the women’s section,” PM Modi said. File | Photo Credit: ANI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (December 29, 2025) commended Indian chess stalwart Koneru Humpy and young Arjun Erigaisi for winning the … Read more
Surya Charishma Tamiri was in for quite the memorable end to 2025. First came the biggest moment of her young career: the 19-year-old fought back from a game down to defeat Tanvi Patri 17-21, 21-12, 21-14 and clinch her maiden title at the Senior National Badminton Championships, the women’s singles crown confirming her arrival on … Read more
Triumphant: Pipers ended Continental’s two-year reign. | Photo Credit: GCL The reign of Triveni Continental Kings is finally over. There is a new champion at the Global Chess League. Alpine SG Pipers scored a convincing victory in the final over Continental Kings — the winner of the first two editions of the league — at … Read more
Irina Krush. | Photo Credit: GCL They crowded her. The little kids, the women. They wanted her autograph on the chessboard, a selfie with her. Irina Krush didn’t disappoint anyone. She was at the fan zone of the Global Chess League, at the Royal Opera House, taking a break from her commentary. A couple of … Read more
Hou Yifan beat her old rival Koneru Humpy at the Global Chess League in Mumbai. | Photo Credit: GCL Hou Yifan hadn’t exactly set the Arabian Sea — just a stone’s throw away from her hotel — on fire during the first half of the Global Chess League. She just won one of her six … Read more
